NEW DELHI: A Delhi court has framed charges of rioting and attempt to murder against Shahrukh Pathan, the man who had pointed a gun at a Delhi police official during the northeast Delhi riots in February 2020. The court also charged three other accomplices of Pathan.
While framing the charges, Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat said the magnitude of these riots was second after the Sikh Riots of 1984. “It is not an ordinary case of individuals or groups committing an unlawful act,” the court order stated.
“I am of the opinion that there are sufficient grounds for presuming that the accused persons namely Shahrukh Pathan, Shamim, Abdul Shehzad and Ishtiyaq Malik have committed offences under IPC Sections 147 (punishment for rioting), 148 (rioting armed with a deadly weapon) and accused Shahrukh Pathan has also additionally committed an offence under Section 25 & 27 Arms Act while accused Kaleem Ahmed committed offence under Section 216 IPC,” said the court order.
During the hearing on framing of charges, Pathan’s counsel Menaka Guruswamy submitted that even after the first firing, the accused had a second opportunity to kill head constable Deepak Dahiya and the fact that he did not kill him shows that there was no intention on his part. However, the court dismissed the argument and said that it had no logic.
“In any event, this incident occurred in a flash of seconds and to diminish the valour of a brave policeman by arguing it as an act of magnanimity of accused Shahrukh Pathan in not killing the policeman victim, is neither palatable nor legally sound,” the court stated. Pathan was booked in FIR 51/2020 registered at the Jafrabad Police Station. The FIR is related to an incident during the northeast Delhi riots.